Zambia began 1996 cheered by the December 1995 offer of substantial support from its external aid partners provided it maintained the momentum it had achieved in its management of the economy and its privatization program. In March the nation’s Paris Club creditors took the further step of writing off 67% of the debt owed to them. Donor confidence was shaken in May, however, when the constitution was amended to prevent former president Kenneth Kaunda from running for reelection.

Creditors were also becoming concerned by evidence of increased corruption and by the delay in privatizing the copper-mining industry. In response to the latter charge, the privatization agency announced in August that Feb. 28, 1997, had been fixed as the date for receiving bids for the purchase of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines.

On the political front, Pres. Frederick Chiluba held meetings with opposition party leaders to try to deal with their criticisms of the forthcoming electoral system. Kaunda, the leader of the main opposition party, continued to threaten a boycott of the national elections if he was not allowed to be a candidate. In the parliamentary elections on November 18 President Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Democracy won an overwhelming victory, gaining at least 127 of the 150 seats in the National Assembly.

In August eight members of Kaunda’s party, including deputy party leader Inyambo Yeta, were put on trial on charges of treason. This did nothing to reduce the tension between political rivals, although two of the accused were soon conditionally released. Nor did the impending trial of two journalists, whose sentence of indefinite imprisonment by the speaker of the National Assembly had been overruled by the Supreme Court, enhance the government’s reputation for upholding free speech.